Down the chute and into the trailer she ran, bags on sticks shaking behind her and gates slamming as she went through. And fluey – into the trailer where that final door would slam leaving her shaking in the metal box. Then an eight-hour drive from the BLM to her temporary week long destination in Vernal, UT where I would have those six days.
It’s heading into dusk as the trailer is backed up to the gate of the pen where she would finally jump out into yet another strange place and experience.
After putting in some water and hay, we stood around and talked about the adventure while she had a little time to chill. The enclosure was set to my preferences roughly 20×40 feet. As I entered the pen, she quickly scittered to the farthest corner and hid her head.
Threshold distance and levels of fear are the first things I like to assess. She was scared, but she wasn’t’ losing her mind. So, I walked around getting in different positions to see how close I could get and whether I could get her to face me.
My plan was to show her first, that I wasn’t a threat. Any time she started to move, I moved with her along her threshold line as if we were walking together. If she took off – so what? She had a “Gotta go” moment chute, they put a halter and lead on her so she was dragging that around. I just let her. No sense grabbing a hold of her head right off the bat. Let her come to the conclusion that she may live instead of causing her to think she’s gonna die.
As she moved around and occasionally walked with me or turned toward me, I would step on the rope to see how she responded. The early stages of asking for her to give to pressure on the halter and exceptional leading.
I picked up the leadline but left it slack. Again, I tested for thresholds. No yanking or force, just an occasional bump to see if she would adjust her position and allow me to get closer. If she had to go… so what? After just a short time, I was touching, then petting her shoulder, then walking away. Approach and retreat. Casual, but not soft or sneaky. Soon, there was a little of her coming along with me.
She was still nervous with me around her face, so I let her just learn to stand quietly while I rubbed her body on both sides. Noticing how far I could go back or under or over. More thresholds noting when she got anxious or felt the need to move away.
It’s important to realize that position, timing and feel also have to do with when you insist (against better judgment) the horse do as you plan. Your plan shouldn’t be carved in stone because you don’t know what’s going to be the most productive move prior to the horse showing you how things are going. So, if you insist on THE PLAN, you will miss the opportunity to work with the horse on what has shown up. Stuff, BTW, you’ll need to address somewhere down the line, so you might as well take advantage of the option when it shows up. Dwight Eisenhower said, “Plans are useless. But, planning is indispensable.” Okay – I suppose I digressed into teaching here but hey, it’s my site.
Now, where was i?
Somewhere in my first eight hours with her, I started walking around with her and the lead and my stick and string allowing her to come to realize that that wasn’t a big deal. I could walk around – not looking at her – swinging it and letting it fall near her or maybe touch her. Did she scitter and run? Of course, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t a threat. We changed directions and she learned thru this to follow and return and lead. And thru it all, I’d ask her to turn and face and started working on her being good with touching and rubbing her face. We started some work on the Triangle Game which is huge for Exceptional leading, following and thinking! Gotta get finishing writing that book, too. Then, eventually getting started with what I call the ‘high hello’. I think I’ll put this ‘high hello’ on the blog so a s not to digress so soon. I would leave her be for quite a while and work with some other horses and people and then go back with her. This gave her a chance to practice being okay with approaching people and also coming when I called her.
Time to venture outside the pen. Mostly because I was going to get right to Curbside Service and the pen panels were 6 feet high. This isn’t a good size for working a 14.2 hand Mustang. So, we’re in the arena learning how to move around on the line without the close3 fence and morphing that into leading and circling on line and sideways left and right in order to move right into Curbsiding.
I rigged a panel which was a bit dicey to operate from and she didn’t particularly care for it but, as always, when done right, she got the Curbside Service in short order. Pretty much by the book.
Cute eh? Then, I’m slipping on and off her, also as in the book. I was going to go thru all that here, but it occurred to me that I’ve already written that, so pop over to Amazon and get you one!
Next day we were in a different pen next to a bunch of ruckus. Horses and people flying all over that place and while it was disconcerting and depressing for the other horses, definitely a teaching/learning opportunity. I sat om the fence and asked her to Curbside so she could learn how to stand still while all hell is breaking loose just six feet away. She was stellar. Of course, sometimes she would get nervous and need to move her feet. I just asked her to come back and she’d be alright. Good girl.
During all this, I was slipping on her back and just sitting there. Later, we did more on line work so she would learn to follow a feel and took some walks about the property to encounter new stuff such as moving vehicles, strange equipment, charging/barking dogs and galloping horses in the fields. She also got consistent with how she looked to me for security. She would get a sweet “Hey Lor” look and want to touch me with her head or frequently tuck her head under my arm. If she was scared. I’d say ‘You’re okay.” Then, she’d take a minute and try to do whatever I asked and I’d say, “Good girl!” and she’d just melt into it. She loved hearing that and that was also to come in handy on the drop to a whoa from the canter on a loose rein later.
Day three
We worked on better responses to come to me with my finger crook signal and then continue to follow as I walked in serendipitous tracks. We Curbsided and then… bareback and halter, we started our walking and trotting. Woo-Hoo! And shew has a smooth trot. Pretty soon, I was laying on her with my feet off her butt while I was helping a friend with some Curbside Service info. Also, worked on improving the walk, trot and now adding cantering on line. She’s learning how to maintain slack in the rope and, maintain the circle. We started weaving thru the barrels and then of course, jumping them on line. She did fabulously well and would stop quietly on the other side after jumping. I don’t like it when they get all excited and think it’s okay to run after jumping. No more than running after doing anything else. Uh-Uh.
Day four
Of course each session is going to start with “Come here”. Change the circumstances a bit to broaden her horizons. More follow at liberty work. We then went to the trailer so she could get comfortable stepping in and out and she’s such a good girl, it didn’t take her long at all and in and out she was going.
Then, picking up all four hooves. I had rubbed and petted all four legs and she had picked them up to avoid or whatever. I wanted her to be okay with the hoof staying down while I petted, but today we wanted the response to the request. Then, on to saddling and standing still on the loose line.
This part of the deal she was pretty anxious about and wanted to shift a lot. So, a friend helped me by hold the pad up high while I asked her to step sideways under it. Kind of like Curbsiding for Saddling. Hey! Another book? This writing thig is like bunnies breeding. Bridling – no sense in rushing to get a bit in their mouth when you really want the head at torso level every time you ask horse to take the bit. So, just don’t fall for that. Do it right in the beginning. As she did. So, what’ left?
Saddled and bridled, Curbsided and get on and go. We practiced lots of soft feel for turning so she could learn to give thru understanding not force.
Day five
Review everything then… out we go on trail. Walked up o a huge front end loader bucket, climbed on the top precariously balancing and while I was getting up there, she was already Curbsiding over to me.
Two friends went with us and we went thru water, over logs and around trees. Up and down hills. Got our first canters in and she was so well started that she did just as I had worked with her at the trot. I’d drop my reins and she just dropped to a walk or halt. Quietly. Pushed her faster and worked some on steering while traveling fast. We were NOT following or with anyone for this work as the two friends who went out with us were working on their own stuff in the same general area. What a blast!!
I finally tied her for the first time. If possible, I don’t like a horse to get into a pulling match with a pole. Panic and potential damage aren’t high on my list. So, with all our other work on giving to pressure, circling, backing, Curbsiding and riding, when I tied her, she never did a thing. Left her tied for a couple of hours… nary a blip.
My last day with her. My last day in Vernal, Utah. So, I spent the time putting in as much softness and feel and understanding as I could. Foundation is called foundation for a reason. So many people want to and do, jump the gun, skip steps to get a perceived faster ‘result’ and think they’ll put the foundation in later. This is erroneous thinking. If you build a house and then try to put the concrete foundation under it… it’s not going to be how/what it should be. It’s much harder to re-train or remove bad training than it is to do it right at the beginning.
Well, we popped in and out of the trailer. Worked more on her confidence standing still for saddling and then out into the beautiful woods and river and hills of Vernal. Went out with two other people and their horses again practiced finding some boulders and various ledges to Curbside on. Then, came back, had a little break and I took her out again just the two of us. Worked on softness and understanding going sideways down the trail and then we came upon a herd of deer. Only about thirty feet away. We all stopped and watched each other. The deer finally moved off. We never budged and the whole time with completely loose reins. Off we went loping around trees. We’d already gone thru a lot of smallish areas of water, some running, some not. But now, we headed to the river. We practiced keeping our hooves in the zillions of river rock and going in the river. I only had one pair of boots and didn’t want to get them soaked, so the bottom of my boots was as far as I was going in if I had anything to say about it. Once we got in, she did great, so we headed upstream at about belly high (her belly, not mine) water and it was rushing pretty fast and hard. Great job!
We came back, took a really short break and went out again with two other people. Ended up that one of the women wanted to gather watercress in a plastic grocery bag and guess who was the only horse that would carry the bag full? Yep! Let her sniff it and get used to the crackling and about two minutes later, I had it in my hand, mounted, while we moseyed along and for good measure, we did a little trotting and sidepassing as if I wasn’t even holding anything.
WHAT A GOOD GIRL!!!
I learned so much about myself in this six days. Frankly, I had NO idea I could get this much done!
I was her last stop before the Alpo can. This girl is the most dangerous horse I’ve ever been around in my life. What did “they” do to her to make her so dangerous? And by dangerous, I mean: She allowed no one near her. Within range for her was anywhere she could reach or get to. She’d charge you, even lunging over the fence. Just hope you get through it and far enough away to live. She struck, bit and kicked, launched whatever cowboy got on her and then, like a bull, turned and attacked. Broke bones in several trainers bodies before coming to me at the ripe old age of three. The trainers who owned her could not get within thirty feet of a fence without her trying to attack them. They purchased her as a one-year-old at the World sale in OK and when the breeder went into the stall, she sent him flying over the stall wall and broke some parts. The trainer/owner had gotten on her, but she launched him and then like a bull, turned and attacked breaking his collar bone. She had to be removed from the stable where they trained because no one could even clean the stall. They sent her to a trainer whose business card USED to read “Problem horses a specialty.” She launched him and attacked again with the same result. he told them to come get her, she was hopeless. They turned her out in a 100 acre pasture for six months hoping she’d settle down, but the other people who had horses in the pasture couldn’t get their horses because she’d attack them. She was temporarily contained in a round pen of a mutual acquintance while they tried to figure out what to do with her. They had the vet out to draw blood to check for hormone problems. If anyone even placed a hand on her, she’d squeal and kick and squirt pee. While in the stock for the vet to draw the blood, she managed to kick him and break his arm. Blood tests were negative. The mutual acquintance said if they wanted to give her one more shot before they took her to the killers, she needed to go to Lauren’s. (I keep a low profile. They didn’t know me.) They said drug her, throw her in the trailer and get her over there. I was gone to lessons the morning she was to be delivered, so I left instructions to leave her in the round pen. Now I was not given any info on this horse, just that they wanted her to “go long and low at a lope.” I had a message on my cell that said, “Hope your pen is still up when you get home.” Hmmmmm….. I walked out to see the new arrival. As I approached the fence, this beautiful horse ambled toward me and started to put her head forward. I noticed that she had a rear hoof that was completely broken up to the hair line at the quarter line. Lots of fresh blood. Don’t know what happened getting her here. I reached up a hand to pet her face and suddenly, both hind hooves were over the 5 foot rail right at my head. “Oh sweetheart,” I said, “that’s not the way we do things here.” She then pinned her ears and lunged over the rail at me with her teeth and eyes snapping. Yikes! I got my stick and string so I could work with her in the pen and hopefully live. She didn’t have a halter on and I was pretty sure I didn’t want to be close enough to put one on her anyway. I had to do some pretty good swinging to even get in the pen and keep her off me. She didn’t care. I felt bad about the broken hoof, but it was obvious that that would be a long time healing and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. She didn’t seem to care either. High, shut-down pain threshold. I sent her off while she tried to attack and then bolted off squealing and squirting pee about 4-5 feet straight out behind her. I tested several options for her to come in or quiet down, the answer was a resounding “NO”. I was running around with her so I could touch her with the string and also use it when she attacked to start our conversation. Getting her to go away was important as a precursor to her giving to pressure and not killing me. She had no inclination to do so and there were many times that I knew my life was seriously in danger. To make a long story short, two hours later, both of us were covered in sweat and pee. She was changing direction and sometimes coming in half way to me. Then, suddenly she just stopped, turned in to me and walked up to me with her head down at her knees. She stood there heaving and dripping with her tail hangling limp between her legs and pee just started pouring out of her. I petted her forehead and said, “Sweetheart, where in the world did you even have that after two hours of squirting it all over?” Whatever happened to this horse before, she decided that she was going to get the human before the human could get her. I found out later that in addition to the multitud of broken bones she left in her wake, the owner had tied her legs and thrown her and left her laying in the sun under a tarp for several hours. She also had several serious wounds that they had stitched up on her lower legs without the help of a vet. Those scars will remain, the mind scars have mostly healed. I absolutely adore this horse and she’s like a barnacle. Follows me everywhere and always is a huge help teaching other horses how to do tricks and work with sidepassing over barrels or walking in the tire bundle or tarp work. She’s always right there on her own (frequently in the way) to show the newbie how to do it.
She was ten years old and had been kept in a pen for so long her legs hardly held up and sometimes didn’t while she scrambled to bolt away. A jet black Morgan, stunningly beautiful with black eyes, flowing mane and tail and crooked hind legs and strangely shaped hind hooves. Talk about spooky – I ducked between the rails of the pen she was in and she tried to jump out the back side. The guy who ‘trained’ her, well, he thinks standing in a round pen while she frantically runs so out of control that she’s at a 45 degree angle with the footing flinging hither and thither 30 feet out. She was in a total lather and had to be blocked to stop. Her eyes were white with terror. He, meanwhile, stood there in the ‘position’ with his arm cocked leaning on his stick while she lost her mind. Then, he saddled her up and got on and kinda rode her. Meaning he stayed on at a very tense walk and trot with reins only a few inces long and couldn’t get her any where near the rail or canter. A year later, after standing in that same pen the whole time, I brought her home amd turned her out with my herd. BTW she couldn’t be caught. What a lover puss. While she will come, she still has a thought that if you have a rope it may not go well for her. I’ve only been on her a handful of times and that bareback with a halter, but she’s doing very well. Updates as I get around to them.
Would you take that one with you, too?” the owner asked me. I made a face. I was there to see about a throw away (by them) horse for my daughter (Gryffindor is on the cover of my book with her). “No.” I said. “That’s like a large Great Dane. I don’t have any use for a tiny Arab pony.” But, the little bay horse whispered, “I’ll be your best horse ever.” Believe me, I throw that up in her face every once in a while when she gets a hair up her butt and she’s not being my best horse ever. She weighs about 200 pounds more than she did then. And with only about 225 rides in her, she’s a phenomenal horse. She’s perfectly behaved galloping in the mountains bridle-less with just a string around her neck that I don’t have to use. She’s so smooth in her gaits. She jumps like a bird; completely quiet and composed and we’ve started working on piaffe. I can put someone who’s never been on a horse before on her with a halter and take them for a ride in the desert or mountains. She’s also the one I’m on laying backward reading a book and in the un-spooky horse blog post. As to the reading picture, she had never been in the backyard, I had never laid backward on her. She didn’t even have so much as a string around her neck for that photo shoot. Very smart, but that’s an Arab for ya. Tell her what you want and be clear about it and she’ll give it her best try. I’ll keep adding blog posts featuring her and stories of old as we go.
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